BALTIMORE — Inside his former home ballpark, Manny Machado advised All-Star teammate Jurickson Profar regarding where he could do the most damage. Then, Machado watched as Profar twice flied out to center field. Later, Profar twice homered to center in one of the San Diego Padres’ most impressive wins of the season.
That was Friday.
“From bullpen (in left-center field) to kind of right-center field here is kind of where your launch zone is,” Machado said the following afternoon. “And not hit it up — you got to hit it on a line. He didn’t listen to me his first at-bat or the second at-bat when he hit the fly balls. But he made the adjustments later on in the game and he hit it hard on a line.”
This was Saturday: Machado grinned as he described the previous night’s power-up, which included the 31-year-old Profar performing The Griddy as he crossed home plate in a decisive ninth inning. A few hours later, Machado followed his own advice to similar success, lining a drive into the seats in right-center.
The seventh-inning, three-run homer supplied welcome insurance against a team with a potent offense. It made Machado one of nine active players with 1,000 career RBIs. And, in an eventual 9-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles, it helped the Padres secure a seventh consecutive win near the end of a critical, three-city road trip.
A little more than a week ago, uncertainty surrounded a San Diego club that went into the All-Star break seemingly tethered by the gravitational pull of .500 baseball. Now the Padres are 57-50, firmly entrenched in the race for the National League’s first wild card, and executing what their manager has long preached.
“We talk about getting better as the season goes — game, series, season. Now the season’s showing up,” Mike Shildt said after Friday’s win. “There’s really good synergy and clarity of our plan with our pitchers and our catching, it’s in harmony, and we’ve taken good at-bats all year. When you take good at-bats and play the game right defensively and on the bases and you put it together, this is what you have.”
The Manny. The Myth. The Legend. pic.twitter.com/QR6G5SNX99
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) July 27, 2024
During their current winning streak, the Padres have outscored their opponents by a combined margin of 43-12. Since the All-Star break ended, their starting pitchers have produced a 1.44 ERA, the franchise’s second no-hitter, and a .132 batting average against.
“It’s a good feeling,” Michael King said, “to be like, ‘Hey, (Dylan) Cease is throwing no-hitters. We got to go out there and try to compete with him.’”
Already this season, King had flirted with a couple of potential no-hitters. He took the mound Saturday at Oriole Park two days after Cease made history and proceeded to compete admirably. King went 6 1/3 innings to help preserve a bullpen that had worked the virtual entirety of the previous game. He struck out nine batters and allowed only two hits and as many walks. And, against Baltimore’s first batter in the bottom of the first, he avoided a near-catastrophic injury.
A 109 mph comebacker off the bat of Gunnar Henderson struck King, on a line, in the left calf. The ball did not trickle far away, and King calmly fielded it and fired to first for the out. Still, Shildt and a team athletic trainer immediately hurried to the mound.
“Um, I don’t know if I can share the first thought that went through my mind when Michael had the comebacker,” Shildt said. “Because we were a little compromised from (Friday’s bullpen game).”
“It got all meat, which is good,” King said. “I think if it was bone, it would be a different story. … I got a wrap on to try to keep the swelling down, and it was fine.”
The Padres can ill afford to lose King, who leads their rotation with a 3.26 ERA. A few upcoming off days should allow them to delay using a fifth starter. But the team remains in glaring need of more rotation depth and quality bullpen depth. Rookie Adam Mazur, who has been mostly overmatched, remains their readiest healthy starter in the upper minors, and from Aug. 6 to Sept. 2, San Diego is scheduled to play 27 games in 28 days.
The Padres have done background work on Chicago Cubs starter Jameson Taillon, league sources told The Athletic. They have discussed Colorado Rockies right-hander Cal Quantrill as another potential option. They are believed to be among the teams still interested in acquiring Garrett Crochet, despite the Chicago White Sox lefty’s reported stance on postseason usage. These are just three of likely dozens of possible targets, but they illustrate how the Padres could aim big or smaller ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline.
There are interesting obstacles for a team in the Padres’ position. For months, ownership has appeared determined to reset the franchise’s luxury-tax penalty level. Adding Taillon and his $18 million average annual value would not seem to jibe with such a goal, although Yu Darvish’s ongoing stay on the restricted list could buy San Diego some flexibility. Meanwhile, Crochet continues to be perhaps the top prize of the trade deadline. To have a shot at landing him, the Padres may have to be willing to surrender one of the two best prospects in a shallow farm system.
For now, at least, the Padres’ needs do not appear as urgent as those of certain other contenders. They have been competitive all season while often missing multiple key regulars. Now they have extended their winning streak to a season-high seven games. They have gotten better as the season has progressed. And, by Tuesday, they should get better on paper. Their play demands it.
“I think we’re just winning on all cylinders,” Machado said. “Our pitching staff is keeping games in striking distance for us. It’s been fun to play behind them. I just think overall there’s just not one thing. We’re doing everything pretty well. I know things sometimes don’t always go like this, but when they do, you got to keep doing it. And I think for us to start off a road trip … with some pretty good playoff teams, playing how we’re playing, I think it sets up for some success.”
(Photo of Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill: Mitchell Layton / Getty Images)
